Probe into two cases linked to BJP leaders, including Fadnavis, transferred to CBI
The Maharashtra government has issued an order directing the state police to transfer the investigation of a case related to the leak of sensitive call recordings from the state intelligence department (SID). The statement of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was recorded by the Mumbai Police during the investigation of the case.
Another case in which BJP leader Girish Mahajan and 28 others were booked for extortion and criminal conspiracy has also been transferred to the CBI.
Mumbai Police had registered an FIR against unidentified persons under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) in March 2021, days after the then Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis alleged that he was involved in big postings in exchange for money with politicians. There was hectic lobbying by IPS officers. Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Govt.
Fadnavis had said that he had 6.3 GB data of call records obtained from phone tapping allegedly done by the then SID commissioner Rashmi Shukla, in which the names of several prominent police officers were discussed.
The MVA government then asked the then Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Sitaram Kunte to investigate how the phone tapping and recordings were leaked. Following this, a case was registered by the Mumbai Police and the statements of Fadnavis and Shukla were recorded.
Sources in the DGP’s office confirmed to The Indian Express on Friday that the case is being handed over to the CBI.
Similarly, the investigation of another case in which BJP leader Girish Mahajan and 28 others were booked for extortion and criminal conspiracy has also been transferred to the CBI.
The FIR was registered on a complaint filed by advocate Vijay Patil, who is one of the directors of Jilha Maratha Vidya Prasar Sahakari Samaj – a cooperative educational institution in Jalgaon. A case was registered in December 2020 at Nimbhora police station in Jalgaon and the investigation was handed over to Kothrud police station in Pune.
The alleged offence was committed in the period between January 2018 till the time of registration of the case.
According to the FIR, as part of the criminal conspiracy involving all the accused, Patil was threatened and asked to resign. Patil has alleged that during a visit to Pune in 2018, he was forcibly taken to a flat in the Sadashiv Peth area, confined there and was asked for money. He was also threatened that he will be booked for false offences. Patil also made allegations of forgery by some of the suspects to gain control of the Jalgaon-based institute.
